City to hold Juniper 'Open House'

A sign on a front yard along Juniper Drive espouses one resident s dismay with the city s plan to work on the street.
(John Bear/Daily News)

The city is currently considering three separate "concepts" for construction on a stretch of Juniper Drive and holding an open house Tuesday for citizens to take a glance at those plans and offer their thoughts.

The "Juniper Improvements Public Information Open House" is scheduled to take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Sgt. Willie Estrada Memorial Civic Center on Tuesday.

The city has produced three "concepts" for what it is calling "improvements" to Juniper.

Originally, the city planned to remove a strip of city-owned right-of-way on Juniper Drive in between 10th Street and just north of Aspen Drive where Juniper becomes a divided road.

Instead of moving forward with the preliminary design, the city has opted to ponder different concepts that make differing uses of the right-of-way set to be removed, from on-street parking to traffic "chokers."

City officials said the cost of the project has ballooned from $1.1 million to $1.8 million.

Officials have said that the plans originally called for widening of the street only to Aspen Drive and the additional stretch of road.

However, a notice for a public meeting on the Juniper project from December of last year states that road work is, in fact, set to be conducted all the way to the median north of Aspen Drive.

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City Manager Jim Stahle said the confusion arose from cost estimates done on the project, which only considered 10th Street to Aspen Drive, not all the way to the median north of Aspen.

Stahle apologized for the confusion.

"We apologize for the inconsistency," Stahle said. "We are trying to get it right."

The project also calls for replacement of water and sewer lines beneath the street.

One of the plans will save some of the large trees growing along the road, which many residents object to being removed.

Controversial since it's inception, the Juniper project has angered many residents of the street who say the city's plans will reduce their property values and add to an already existing speeding problem in the area.

District 3 Commissioner Robert Rentschler, who has a Juniper address that isn't on the disputed stretch, has said the upgrades are necessary to keep up with growth in the area, in particular, the hospital and college to the north of the neighborhood.